This invention relates to cleaning of heads of a disk drive of the type having a fixed Bernoulli plate against which a magnetic data disk is rotated.
Rigid magnetic disks are rotated adjacent to magnetic read/write heads which "fly" on an airbearing in very close proximity to the disk. Close proximity and exact tolerances allow high data densities. Consequently, rigid magnetic disks are generally used in large data processing systems. Recently, magnetic disk drives which write and read digital data from flexible magnetic disks have been extensively used. These are frequently referred to as "floppy disks." Because the disk is not rigid it cannot be rotated in close proximity to a flying head. Usually, the magnetic head contacts the surface of a floppy disk.
In both rigid and floppy disk drives of the foregoing type, the cleaning of the magnetic heads is usually accomplished by using a cleaning medium which is rotated in the same manner that the normal data disk is rotated. In rigid disk drives the cleaning material can be accurately located so that it contacts the magnetic head. In floppy disk drives, the head normally contacts the disk so that the cleaning material can merely be substituted for the data disk.
In another type of disk drive, a floppy disk is rotated in close proximity to a fixed, flat "Bernoulli" plate. The thin layer of air between the disk and the plate tends to rotate with the disk and to be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force. This creates a vacuum between the plate and disk which tends to pull the disk close to the plate and cause it to behave in a substantially rigid manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,748, "FLEXIBLE MAGNETIC DISK DRIVE USING A RIGID CARTRIDGE," Bauck et al, describes a disk drive using a Bernoulli plate to stabilize a flexible disk which is contained in a rigid cartridge which protects the disk.
In a disk drive of the type shown in the Bauck, et al patent, cleaning of the magnetic heads cannot be performed in the straightforward manner of substituting a cleaning material for a magnetic disk in the cartridge. The magnetic head in such a disk drive is relatively inaccessible; the cartridge is a rigid enclosure with limited accessibility. All of this makes cleaning of the heads in such a disk drive difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning cartridge which can be used to clean the heads of a disk drive of the type shown in the aforementioned Bauck, et a1 patent.